A St. Paul man who pleaded guilty to throwing his ex-girlfriend’s dog off a third-floor balcony — as his 6-year-old daughter and other children watched — was sentenced Thursday to 300 hours of community service.

The English bulldog, named Precious, was injured so severely in the Sept. 26 incident that she had to be euthanized.

Ramsey County District Judge Rosanne Nathanson appeared to agree with the defense’s argument that Donald Dornseif, 44, should be allowed to continue with his alcohol treatment program. She sentenced him to a 15-month stayed sentence and imposed the relatively hefty amount of community service instead of prison time.

But prosecutor Joseph Amos argued Dornseif should serve more than the day in jail he spent after his arrest, saying he never directly admitted to the felony offense.

What Dornseif said in the presentence investigation was: “If I wasn’t drinking, the dog would probably be alive today,” Amos said.

But that’s no excuse, he said.

“A lot of people consume alcohol but don’t throw dogs off balconies,” Amos said. “This was a senseless act of cruelty in front of his daughter and other children.”

But Dornseif’s attorney, Corey Sherman, said his client’s actions were “out of character.”

“It’s something he feels very embarrassed about,” she said. “He feels very guilty and bad about it.” But it provided him the motivation to get back into treatment, Sherman said.

Nathanson placed Dornseif on probation for two years. During that time, he must abstain from alcohol and drugs, get counseling and treatment as directed, perform community service, pay restitution to the dog’s owner and have no pets other than a bird the family already owns.

Dornseif was in his ex-girlfriend’s apartment in the 1300 block of Mississippi Street when he picked up the dog — a gift from the woman’s new boyfriend — and hurled it off the balcony, according to the criminal complaint.

A 2-year-old who saw the incident told her mother, “Doggie went boom.”

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